Originally Posted by
Anavycrna
Hello,
I"m in the market for a Ti tandem (Seven Evergreen). I contacted an online dealer that cautioned against flex and recommended steel or carbon. My team weight is 460#.
What does the group think?
yes, I know we need to lose weight
hence the bike
Are you looking at a custom bike or something stock? For your weight I'd consider going with a custom bike so the builder can tailor it to your team and intended use. It might not cost as much as you'd think as Ti tandems are a pretty small market and most (maybe all?) are built to order anyway. As others said it isn't the material, but the choice of tubes and the build that will determine if your bike is a noodle or a rail. The only possible limitation for Ti compared to the other materials would be if the builder can't source tubes in the needed diameters or doesn't have the ability to design around and work with those tubes.
A local couple has a Seven that they ride about 7,000 miles per year. Their team weight including the bike is < 300 lbs. The frame broke at the rear dropout a few months ago and had to back to Seven for repair. That was after about 2 years of riding, so probably somewhere between 10K and 15K miles.That's a lot of miles, and they are really strong riders, but I'm surprised a Ti frame broke under such a light team riding it unloaded and only on paved roads. Seven definitely knows their way around titanium, so if they're building the bike custom for your team it will probably be quite a bit different to the bike my ~270# friends ride.